Discrepency/Paradox

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Discrepency/Paradox

by heshamelaziry » Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:12 pm
Over the past five years, one out of every ten public hospitals in the state has been shut down. During the same period, the demand for health services has increased, while hospitals have reported being overwhelmed with patients.

Which of the following, if true, best helps to explain the discrepancy above?

A. The state legislature has allocated more funds to public hospital over the last five years

B. New public hospitals have been built in areas where public hospitals have shut down

C. Alternatives to public hospitals, such as private trauma centers, have not had to shut down at this rate over the past five years

D. Population growth in the state has been stagnant over the last five years

E. Some hospitals in other parts of the country have experienced problems with rising operating costs



[spoiler]NO OA. SOMEONE SAID IT IS B BECAUSE THE NEW HOPITALS HAVE NOT BEEN COMPLETELY CONSTRUCTED YET. IF THIS IS SO, THEN MY PROBLEM WILL BE "SENTENCE CORRECTION & GRAMMAR"- HAVE BEEN BUILT---> DONE OR COMPLETED- HOW CAN B BE THE ANSWER ?[/spoiler]
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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Re: Discrepency/Paradox

by Testluv » Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:48 pm
heshamelaziry wrote:Over the past five years, one out of every ten public hospitals in the state has been shut down. During the same period, the demand for health services has increased, while hospitals have reported being overwhelmed with patients.

Which of the following, if true, best helps to explain the discrepancy above?

A. The state legislature has allocated more funds to public hospital over the last five years

B. New public hospitals have been built in areas where public hospitals have shut down

C. Alternatives to public hospitals, such as private trauma centers, have not had to shut down at this rate over the past five years

D. Population growth in the state has been stagnant over the last five years

E. Some hospitals in other parts of the country have experienced problems with rising operating costs



[spoiler]NO OA. SOMEONE SAID IT IS B BECAUSE THE NEW HOPITALS HAVE NOT BEEN COMPLETELY CONSTRUCTED YET. IF THIS IS SO, THEN MY PROBLEM WILL BE "SENTENCE CORRECTION & GRAMMAR"- HAVE BEEN BUILT---> DONE OR COMPLETED- HOW CAN B BE THE ANSWER ?[/spoiler]
Hi Hesham,

GMAT questions will never use non-GMAT grammar even in wrong answers. (And wrong answers won`t be wrong because of bad grammar). Choice B is wrong because if new public hospitals are being built, you would expect demand to be satisfied (not increasing). But, yes choice B does use bad grammar.

The best (I won't say "correct") choice here is choice D. If population growth has been stagnant, then it means it hasn`t grown but nor has it shrunk. If the population has not shrunk, and they are shutting down hospitals, it would now explain why demand is increasing, and why the hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.


This is a badly designed question. In a paradox question, something surprising happens: the opposite of what you expect to happen happens (that is the paradox). Here, hospitals are being shut down, and demand is increasing. That is what you would expect to happen. There is no discrepancy.
Last edited by Testluv on Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by heshamelaziry » Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:50 pm
THANK YOU DEEPAK,

I CHOSE D AS THE BEST CHOICE TOO.

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Re: Discrepency/Paradox

by gmatmachoman » Sat Nov 07, 2009 2:54 am
Testluv wrote:

This is a badly designed question. In a paradox question, something surprising happens: the opposite of what you expect to happen happens (that is the paradox). Here, hospitals are being shut down, and demand is increasing. That is what you would expect to happen. There is no discrepancy.
Yeah TestLuv,rightly said,wat one can expect when shortage occurs naturally demand will increase....

As u rightly said, I dont c any discrepancy too.
But Option B was a shell Game answer..It was too attractive.To be frank I really went for B.Then later read ur post to decipher the stated facts.